This is a recipe from Jamie Oliver which I have only minutely adapted. It’s so easy and will knock your socks off with flavour (and chilli depending on how much you dare to use!). You can also play around with the ingredients especially the veg and keep tasting as you go – if it needs more, add more!

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 400-500g Lean Minced Beef / or Quorn Mince
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes (2x400g)
• 1 tin of red kidney beans (400g)
• 1 tin of chickpeas (400g)
• 1 large brown onion
• 3-4 cloves of garlic (to your personal taste)
• 2-3 sticks of celery
• 1 large or 2 medium carrots
• 2 peppers (any colour – I like yellow and orange for sweetness)
• 1 tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar
• 1-2 tsp each of Cumin, Turmeric, Cinnamon
• 1-2 tsp hot chilli powder (to your personal taste)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:

• Clean, peel, de-seed and chop the celery, peppers and carrots into small/large chunks (it’s up to you).
• Roughly chop the onion and finely chop or crush the garlic. Pour the oil into a large saucepan over a high heat until oil is visibly hot, then reduce the heat to medium and add the onion and garlic. Sweat these on a low heat for approx. 5 mins.
• Add the mince to the saucepan by gently separating with your fingers as you drop it in. Let it cook slightly on the medium heat. Add the cumin (1.5), turmeric (1.5), cinnamon (1) and chilli powder (2) – the numbers in brackets are a guide to how many teaspoons I normally add. Stir in well.
• Add the two tins of chopped tomatoes, stirring each one as it goes in. Fill one empty tin with water and add this to the pan.
• Once the mixture is bubbling nicely, add the balsamic vinegar (be careful with this as it can overpower everything).
• Then add all of the vegetables and stir in.
• Drain and rinse the chickpeas and kidney beans. Add both to the pan – which will be pretty full by now!
• Leave this to simmer for about an hour for the flavours to mature and the liquid to reduce. Keep tasting and season if you need to – don’t over-do it though, you’ll find the flavours develop quite nicely over the hour.
• Serve with rice, jacket potato or just good old bread and butter! This will serve 4 people very comfortably (up to 6) but if there’s less of you, have it the next day – it will taste even better! Enjoy!

The Toffee Crisp®

Possibly the most underrated chocolate bar of all time is the Toffee Crisp®. After re-discovering this a few months ago, I am utterly addicted – 4 for a £1?! Thank you very much!

1. It tastes good. Remember those rice crispie cakes you would get at school dinners and had competitions with your mates as to who had the most chocolate at the bottom? No? Maybe you made them with your Mum on a Sunday afternoon? Anyway, imagine one of those in a chocolate bar with toffee on top…………….yes, i know, you want one now don’t you?!
2. It’s honest as well. It’s called a Toffee Crisp®; it has rice crispies in chocolate with a layer of toffee. You can’t get more straightforward than that.
3. It’s also an underdog. People tend to disregard the retro-looking wrapper in favour of something more appealing and modern such as a Caburys Dairy Milk® or a Galaxy®. I was shocked to hear of my local shop keeper having to throw out a 48 box of Toffee Crisps because they didn’t sell and had passed their expiry date! Shocking!

So, please save the Toffee Crisp® – go out and buy one today! Treat yourself!

Last night I attended my second weekly session of Pilates. Flashback to this time last week and I was bragging to my colleagues about how easy and relaxing it was and how I couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. Well today, hobbling into work due to over-worked hip flexors, I am eating my words! It is tough! I was stretching and tightening muscles I didn’t even know existed while at the same time trying to breath in through my nose and out through my mouth, maintaining a strong core, making sure my pelvis was in the right place, holding my posture, lengthening my spine, patting my head and rubbing my belly – obviously not that last part but you get the idea.

Aside from a few coordination fails, I actually didn’t do badly and there were a few instances where I was named personally by the instructor for doing something right! Teacher’s pet already it seems 😀

If you don’t mind a little hard muscle work and aren’t embarrassed at having your bottom in the air or showing the world what you had for tea then I definitely recommend it! It’s certainly showed me how terribly lazy my whole posture is – maybe there’s still time to prevent a hunchback! Also with today’s technology seriously affecting our way of life maybe there’s a chance Pilates can prevent devolution……….

Pork Pie and Pickle

I am completely obsessed by this calorific snack! Obviously it’s not something you can eat every day (unless you’re aiming for a heart attack) but when I got in last night and it was cold and wet and I felt like poo, the only thing I wanted was that meaty, fatty, pickley (is that a word?) sustenance!

My favourite pork pies are the Melton Mowbray cute little bite sized ones that come in a pack of 6 (I have 2). One of my pet hates are the huge cheap pies with the layer of disgusting jelly stuff between the meat and the pastry (urgh……shudder)! Also the pickle has to be Branston® – that’s just my preferred choice; other brands are available of course 😉

I just found out that you can actually buy pork pies with pickle already inside them! I’m really not sure what to make of this discovery. Part of the pleasure for me is cutting the little pies into quarters and spooning a bit of the pickle on each piece bite by bite. First of all, the process takes a few more seconds so I get to enjoy the indulgence that little bit longer. Second, I don’t think they would satisfy my preferred pie to pickle ratio. Therefore I will not be trying these anytime soon unless I happen to spot one on the buffet table at the next family shindig…………………….

OK, so the proof is in the pudding – or the tasting of the pudding I guess! So I’m going to kick-start this blog with my signature goodies, Devilishly Chocolate Brownies. They are dead easy so give them a try, and if you like them – and I KNOW you will – you have to promise to share my blog……….deal? Fab!

Ingredients:

• 300g Plain Chocolate
• 150g Unsalted Butter
• 50g Cocoa Powder
• 200g Caster Sugar
• 4 Medium Eggs

Method:

• Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4 (180C or 350F). Lightly grease brownie tin (approx 8” by 10”)
• Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
• Once melted, sift and mix in the cocoa powder.
• Whisk up the eggs separately and add sugar. Keep whisking until fluffy and doubled in size (the secret’s in the bubbles!)
• Pour the chocolate mixture into the egg and sugar mixture and fold in carefully with a large spoon until just mixed in (no more, no less, otherwise you lose air). The chocolate mixture will sink to the bottom so be patient with the folding – you will eventually end up with a smooth and shiny dark brown mixture.
• Pour into brownie tin and bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30mins.
• Don’t be mistaken that it is under-cooked. The top will be hard and cracked but when you touch it, it should be delicate enough to break and the centre should still be slightly gooey. This is why you will need to leave it in the tin to cool for a little while before slicing it up and carefully scooping it out. Transfer to a wire rack (carefully) and the brownies should become more firm when they cool down.
• If you prefer very chewy brownies you can leave it in the oven longer but only the exterior ones will get to a chewy point just before they burn – the centre will stay generally gooey.
• Dust with icing sugar and serve on their own or with ice cream or clotted cream……..mmmmmmmmm…….